Increase in portal blood interleukin-6 soon after the commencement of digestive surgery

To determine whether cytokines produced in the operative field during digestive surgery selectively spill over into the portal blood, the changes in interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in portal and peripheral venous blood were assayed at several points in time from the commencement of surgery until 14 days later, in 11 patients. Similar changes in the IL-6 levels were observed in the portal and peripheral blood samples; however, the IL-6 levels in the portal blood reached a maximum 6–12 h after the commencement of surgery, being earlier than in the peripheral venous blood. In fact, between 3 and 12 h after the commencement of surgery, the IL-6 levels were higher in the portal blood by 33–81 pg/ml. By 24 h or more after the commencement of surgery, the IL-6 levels did not differ significantly in the two types of blood samples. Moreover, the C-reactive protein levels 2 days after surgery were even more closely correlated to the maximum IL-6 levels in the portal blood than to those in the peripheral venous blood. These results suggest that IL-6 produced during intraabdominal digestive surgery initially enters the portal blood, being trapped by IL-6 receptors in the liver, where it may regulate the synthesis of acute-phase proteins as a hepatocyte-stimulating factor.